The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 1 percent to 326.58 at the
close of trading. The gauge rebounded yesterday amid better-than-estimated U.S. retail sales data and earnings from
Citigroup Inc., after last week erasing most of the year’s gains
as investors sold technology shares on valuation concerns. The
equity benchmark has declined 0.5 percent so far this year.

“You have this huge uncertainty from the geopolitical
front, which is pulling the market in a negative direction,”
Witold Bahrke, who helps oversee $55 billion as a senior
strategist at PFA Asset Management in Copenhagen, said in a
phone interview. “There is a lack of conviction among
investors. Sentiment is still tilted to the negative direction
after the escalation in Ukraine at the weekend.”

The number of shares changing hands in Stoxx 600-listed
companies was 10 percent greater than the 30-day average,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Four militants were killed and two wounded when Ukrainian
troops stormed an airport in Kramatorsk, taking it under
control, RIA Novosti also said.

Envoys from Ukraine, Russia, the U.S. and European Union
are scheduled to hold talks in Geneva on April 17 in an attempt
to resolve the crisis.

In Germany, a gauge of investor confidence fell for a
fourth month in April. The ZEW Center for European Economic
Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst
expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six
months in advance, slid to 43.2 from 46.6 in March. Economists
had forecast a decline to 45.

“There is little doubt that the ZEW data will have had a
depressing impact on sentiment because Germany is the engine
room of growth in the euro zone, Jeremy Batstone-Carr, head of
research at Charles Stanley & Co., said in a phone interview.

Empire Manufacturing

In the U.S., the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s so-called Empire State manufacturing index declined to 1.29 this
month from 5.61 in March. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had
forecast an increase to 8.

Greece’s benchmark ASE Index tumbled 1.7 percent, for its
ninth day of declines and longest losing streak since August
2011. The equity gauge rose 28 percent in 2013.

‘‘I think this is a case of people taking chips off the
table as they’ve made so much money on Greece,” Ion-Marc
Valahu, a co-founder and fund manager at Clairinvest in Geneva,
said in a phone interview. “Greece is a small market, so if
some investors leave it does not take too much for a cascading
effect to the downside.”

SABMiller Drops

SABMiller lost 2.3 percent to 3,052.5 pence. The world’s
second-biggest brewer said its 39.6 percent holding in hotel and
casino operator Tsogo Sun is not a core part of its operations.

Rio Tinto fell 3.1 percent to 3,302.5 pence. The world’s
second-largest mining company said first-quarter iron ore
production rose 8 percent to 52.3 million metric tons from 48.3
million tons a year earlier. That missed the 54.7 million-ton
median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

A gauge of mining stocks slipped 2.4 percent, for the worst
performance of the 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600.
Voestalpine AG tumbled 5 percent to 30.46 euros. ArcelorMittal
lost 3.5 percent to 11.57 euros.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA plunged 10 percent to
22.5 euro cents, for its biggest drop since March 2012. Italy’s
third-largest bank said it may increase the size of a planned
share sale to reimburse part of a 4.1 billion-euro ($5.7
billion) government bailout.

L’Oreal Gains

L’Oreal (OR) advanced 1.1 percent to 122 euros. The world’s
largest cosmetics maker said first-quarter revenue gained 2.8
percent in western Europe, excluding currency shifts and
acquisitions, while southern European sales grew for the first
time in six years.